Pay rise for public servants will not spike inflation, says Muhith

Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith does not see a hike in salaries of the public servants having much impact on the inflation.

At a pre-budget discussion on Friday, he said, “Every five years we increase salaries and wages. This time we conducted a study to find the impact of salary hike on inflation. It’s nominal.”

He asked government employees not to worry about a rise in the price of goods. “There is nothing for you to fear. You will realise this if you do a study of the trend. BIDS has also done a similar study.”

From July 1, new pay structure of the government employees will be implemented. This will enhance the salaries of 1.3 million government employees by 87 to 101 percent.

The finance minister was speaking at a discussion titled, “Budget 2015-16, our expectations” organised by the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

He said the government was achieving a 6 percent growth thanks to ‘ambitious’ budgets.

Muhith brushed aside demands to increase allocations to different sectors, pointing out that it would require the budget to be at least Tk 6 to 7 trillion to meet everyone’s demand.

“It’s not possible. We’ve just reached Tk 3 trillion [budget] where our achievements are not bad,” he said.

The minister claimed the Awami League-led government had made big progress in realising revenue in the last six years.

“These six years are unique in Bangladesh’s history in terms of realising revenue,” he said.